For this special twenty-fifth edition of ‘Asian Art in London’ we have chosen a group of pieces that represent the diversity of material we like to deal with in our day-to-day business. Each piece tells a story and has been selected not solely for monetary importance but for their beauty and how they speak to us.
Amongst the highlights are an important incised and gilt burnt jade brush pot (Kangxi period) with impeccable provenance, an important imperial inscribed mottled jade boulder (Qianlong period) from a private Taiwanese collection, a pale celadon dog (Song dynasty) previously in the collections of Raymond Oppenheimer and Anthony du Boulay and an excellent and rare cloisonné enamel pilgrim flask (Ming dynasty, first half 17th century).
We have great pleasure in presenting this small, select group of later Chinese bronzes during ‘Asian Art in London 2020’. Spanning the Song through Qing dynasties, this group is the product of many years of collecting as each has their own character and story.
During this challenging time for the world we pause to look back through pieces drawn from different periods of post-archaic Chinese history and hope these simple yet vigorous examples of bronze craftsmanship provide a little respite for the viewer.
This November we hope to welcome our friends from the collector, dealer and auction worlds and look forward to 2021 with renewed hope for a happier, healthier and more tolerant world.
London-based gallery ‘Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art’ will present two shows simultaneously this November, celebrating TEFAF New York Fall and Asian Art in London.
Treasures of Imperial China
1-5 November Park Avenue Armory 643 Park Avenue, New York
For their TEFAF New York Fall exhibition the gallery has assembled an impressive group of unique and exquisite works of art, made specifically for the Chinese Imperial Court and its high-ranking officials.
One of the star pieces is a pair of carved wood, polychrome and gilt-lacquer panels depicting five-clawed dragons amongst auspicious ‘ruyi’ clouds (Qing Dynasty, Kangxi/Yongzheng period, early 18th century). During the Qing Dynasty, the use of five-clawed dragons was strictly limited to works of art made for the Emperor himself.
Detail
One of two panels
A pair of imperial carved wood, polychrome and gilt-lacquered ‘dragon’ panels (Kangxi/Yongzheng period, 18th century)
Dimensions: 115.5 x 125 cm
Provenance: From the collection of Jacob Bendaman, a Spanish banker, purchased between the 1950s and 1960s
A set of four mother-of-pearl inlaid panels, signed Jiang Qianli (Late Ming/early Qing period, 17th century)
Dimensions: each 80cm high x 47cm wide
Published: ‘The Luxury of Chinese Lacquer’, Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art (March 2010)
The panels are of rectangular shape, each finely inlaid in mother-of-pearl and gold. Each are decorated variously with panels containing butterflies, birders, deer or poetic inscriptions.
Compare a set of five panels in the ‘Hebei Provincial Cultural Bureau’ also by Jiang Qianli. The use of gold and silver inlays alongside mother-of-peark in the Hebei panels is reminiscent of those on the current panels, as well as the style of inlay work. Furthermore, one of the current panels bears the name if Duo Lun (year unknown), an official of the Kangxi reign. His daughter married one of Kangxi’s grandsons, Prince Yong Xiang, and he went on to become the Right Vice Minister of The Board of Rites in 1756.
Copyright Christie’s Hong Kong
A carved Longquan celadon jar and cover (Yuan/early Ming dynasty)
Dimensions: 35.3cm high
Provenance: – A private Irish collection – Christie’s Hong Kong ‘Imperial Sale; Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art’, 29 May 2013 (lot 2243) – Christie’s New York, 22 March 2012, lot 1971 – Christie’s London, 13 May 2008, lot 181
The well-potted globular body is carved with a wide band of composite foliate scroll above a band of upright petals. The cover is potted with undulating scalloped edges below a similar foliate scroll pattern, and is surmounted by a stem finial.
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London Gallery (behind Christie’s) 1 Princes Place, Duke Street, St. James’s London SW1Y 6DE
Highlight of their AAL exhibition is a rare miniature Beijing enamel ‘Hu’ vase (Qing Dynasty, Qianlong imperial seal mark and of the period, 18th century). This delicately painted vase measures only 5.7cm. It was made in the imperial workshops in Beijing and is decorated with ‘lingzhi’ and bats, symbolising longevity and happiness, in ‘Falangcai’ or foreign enamels.”
Reverse
A rare miniature Beijing enamel gilt-copper ‘Hu’ vase decorated in ‘falangcai’ enamels (Qianlong mark and period)
Dimensions: 5.7cm high
Provenance: – A private Asian collection – A private English collection, acquired in London in the 1960s
Compare a similar copper vase in ‘falangcai’ enamels, decorated with peaches and bats (mark and period of Kangxi) in the Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. Illustrated in ‘The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Metal-Bodied Enamel Ware’, Hong Kong 2002, pl. 174, p. 183.
Copyright Bonhams Hong Kong
A very rare cinnabar lacquer square dish (Ming dynasty, early 15th century)
Dimensions: 17.8cm square
Japanese wood box and cover
Provenance: – Bonhams Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 27 November 2014 (lot 148) – The property of an English gentleman
The dish is finely carved with a band of flowers, around a courtyard scene within a square panel. The scene depicts a scholar standing beneath a pine tree admiring a waterfall surrounded by rockwork. His attendant patiently waits inside the pavilion beside a table. The scene is intricately carved and set on a diaper ground.
Compare a Xuande mark and period cinnabar lacquer circular box and cover, with similar design composition, diaper grounds, and bands of flowers and leaves, is illustrated in Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors, Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, p.49, no.29. Compare also a Yongle period box and cover with the same decorative theme, of a scholar within a courtyard admiring a waterfall, is illustrated in The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum: Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, p.64, no.43.
A lobed ‘Guan’-type circular washer (Southern Song/Yuan dynasty)
Dimensions: 12.3cm diameter
Provenance: – Sir Herbert Ingram Collection (part label)
A black-glazed trompe l’eoil wall vase with applied cicadas on a faux-ivory celadon stand (Qing dynasty, 19th century)
Dimensions: 16.5cm high
Provenance: – An English private collection – Mary Wise (label) – G.B. Warner Collection (label)
Cicadas are associated with the onset of summer and symbolises rebirth and immortality in Chinese art. Compare a similar wall vase in our exhibition dated to the 18th century, Qianlong period, from the collection of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild (Palais Abbatial de Royaumont), sold at Christie’s Paris (September 2011)
Two Special Exhibitions at ‘TEFAF New York Fall’ and ‘Asian Art in London’ showing works of art from the Tang to the Qing Dynasty, including imperial porcelain, important pottery, archaistic bronzes, gilt bronzes and scholar’s objects.
An impressive large green and straw-glazed pottery watch tower (Liao Dynasty, 907-1125 AD)
Dimensions: 115 cm high
Provenance:
A private collection in The Netherlands
An English private collection, purchased in Hong Kong in the 1990s
Oxford TL-tested, Sample No. C103x32 (27 November 2003)
A very rare celadon-glazed double gourd vase from the Indianapolis Museum of Art Collection (Qianlong mark and period, 1736-1795)
Dimensions: 24.1 cm high
Provenance:
A private Asian collection
Christie’s Art of China: Online Spring Sale March 21-29, 2017 (Lot 43)
Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Herzman Collection, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, accessioned in 1984.
Literature:
Little, The Herzman Collection, privately published, 2000, p. 89, in the section of gifts to the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Compare an identical vase from the Hosokawa Morisada Collection, offered at the ‘HEIRLOOMS OF CHINESE ART FROM THE HOSOKAWA CLAN’ sale at Sotheby’s Hong Kong (8 October 2014).
A chestnut-glazed Tang pottery horse (Tang Dynasty, 618-906 AD)
Dimensions: 83 cm high
Provenance:
A private collection in The Netherlands
An English private collection, purchased in Hong Kong in the 1990s
Oxford TL-tested, Sample No. C201d38 (18 January 2002)
Provenance:
A private Asian collection
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, ‘CHINESE ART INCLUDING SELECTED WORKS OF ART FROM THE T.Y. CHAO FAMILY COLLECTION’, 30 NOVEMBER 2017, lot 542
Sotheby’s London, 11th June 1996, lot 12
Huang Junbi – Running Stream in Cloudy Mountains (1947)
Ink and colour on paper, hanging scroll
Dimensions: 133.8 by 60.9 cm, 52 5/8 by 24 in.
Provenance:
A private Asian collection
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, ‘Chinese Art from the T.Y. Chao Collection’, 30 Nov. – 1 Dec. 2017
A Hong Kong private collection
Sotheby’s London, 11th June 1996, lot 159.
A flambé-glazed ‘Meiping’ vase (Qianlong six-character incised seal mark and of the period, 1736-1795)
Dimensions: 35cm high
Provenance:
Christie’s London (May 2018)
A private English collection, acquired in the 1970s
A silver-inlaid tripod censer with wood stand and cover (Ming dynasty)
Dimensions: Height 25cm
Provenance:
A private Irish collection
A black-glazed ‘trompe l’oeil’ wall vase with faux-ivory celadon stand decorated with ‘ruyi’ (Qianlong period, 18th century)
Dimensions: 25cm high
Provenance:
A private European collection
Christie’s Paris, ‘Palais Abbatial de Royaumont’, 19-21 September 2011, lot 497
Palais Abbatial de Royaumont (Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild)
A group of Chinese bronzes from a private collection (Song to Ming dynasty)
Dimensions: various
Provenance:
A European private collection, acquired between the 1980s and 2000s
Sold separatelyA ‘Yue’ ware celadon-glazed ‘chicken head’ ewer (Western Jin, 266–316 AD)
Dimensions: 19 cm diameter
Provenance:
A private English collection, acquired in Indonesia in the 1970s
Compare an almost identical ewer excavated from Wujindun Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, illustrated by the Cultural Relics Protection Management Office.
A rare white-glazed Anhua-decorated ‘lotus’ stem cup (Ming dynasty, Jiajing period)
Dimensions: 14.5cm diameter
Provenance:
A private Asian collection
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, ‘CHINESE ART INCLUDING SELECTED WORKS OF ART FROM THE T.Y. CHAO FAMILY COLLECTION’, 30 NOVEMBER 2017, lot 432
Sotheby’s London, 11th June 1996, lot 33
Compare a similar stem cup from the PHILIP CARDEIRO COLLECTION sold at Christie’s London, 13 May 2014.
An amber and cream-glazed pottery groom (Tang Dynasy, 618-906 AD)
Dimensions: 58 cm high
Provenance:
A private collection in The Netherlands
Christie’s London 2001
A private English collection, acquired in Hong Kong in the 1990s
Oxford TL-tested, Sample No. C101k89 (25 May 2001)
A silver and turquoise inlaid gilt bronze figure of ‘Yama’ (14th century)
Dimensions: Height 5” without stand
Provenance:
A private American Collector, acquired from an important Hong Kong gallery in the 1990s
A small ‘Qingbai’ lobed box and cover, moulded in the shape of chrysanthemum petals with a workshop mark reading ‘Li Jia He Zi’ (Song dynasty, 12th-13th century)
Dimensions: 6.9cm diameter
Provenance:
A private English collection, acquired in Indonesia in the 1970s
Compare a nearly identical, slightly lower ‘qingbai’ porcelain box of the same shape and diameter was excavated from the Hutian kiln in Jingdezhen between 1988 and 1999 and is now in the collection of the Jingdezhen Museum of Civilian Kiln. Another larger, but in terms of design closely comparable, ‘qingbai’ box is in the Yuegutang collection in Berlin, illustrated in ‘Yuegutang – A Collection of Chinese Ceramics in Berlin’, Krahl, R. Berlin, 2000, no. 205, p. 251.
A small blue ‘lotus’ jar and cover with applied blossoming branch (Yuan dynasty, 1269-1368)
Dimensions: 10cm high
Provenance:
A private English collection, acquired in Indonesia in the 1970s
A silver and gold inlaid bronze archaistic vase, ‘Hu’ (Qianlong period, 18th century)
Dimensions: Height 181/4 inches
Provenance:
A private European collection
Christie’s London, 6 November 2007 (lot 111)
A gilt bronze figure of Mahakala (17th century)
Dimensions: Height 4 3/4” without stand
Provenance:
A private American Collector, acquired from an important Hong Kong gallery in the 1990s
A rare reticulated ‘Longquan’ celadon pear-shaped vase, ‘Yuhuchunping’, with incised decoration, and Japanese fitted box (Yuan dynasty, circa 1400)
Dimensions: 31.5cm high
Provenance:
A private Asian collection
Longquan celadon glazed vases of this type are rare, and the few existing examples mostly date to the Ming Dynasty. Compare a similar, albeit smaller example dating to the Ming Dynasty offered at Christie’s HK in the ‘Imperial Sale’ on 1 June 2016, lot 3314. Another example was sold at Sotheby’s London, 7 November 2012, lot 221.
A pair of white-glazed Meiping vases (Ming dynasty, 16th century)
Dimensions: each 21cm
Provenance:
A private Asian collection
Sotheby’s London, 10 November 2017, lot 248
An English Private Collection
Collection of Warren E. Cox
Collection of Ira and Nancy Koger
Literature:
John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics: The Koger Collection, London, 1985, pl. 53.
A ‘Yue’ ware celadon-glazed vessel in the form of a bear (Western Jin, 266-316 AD)
Dimensions: 9 cm high
Provenance:
A private English collection, acquired in Indonesia in the 1970s
Compare another animal, a celadon-glazed ram dating to the Western Jin Dynasty, sold at Sotheby’s London, Important Chinese Art (16 May 2018).
Our next exhibition for Asian Art in London opens on 2 November and closes on 11 November. We hope to welcome you at our gallery in London, behind Christie’s auction house.
A pair of ‘Ding’ lobed dishes (Northern Song Dynasty)
Dimensions: 13cm diameter
Provenance:
From the Collection of Enid & Brodie Lodge
